Director Travis Fine told a packed audience at the Tribeca Film Festival that the title of his film The Space Between refers to the psychological space—actually the time—between losing someone close to you and being able to let that person go. I’m sure that many of the New Yorkers present knew exactly what he was talking about. His movie illustrates how two unlikely companions go about trying to accomplish the very difficult task of living through this “space between.”

Maliq, the father of a ten-year-old boy named Omar, is a Pakistani-American who moonlights as a cab driver in New York City. His day job is at a restaurant at the top of one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. In the early morning hours of September 11, 2001, he drops Omar off at JFK Airport because the brilliant boy has landed a scholarship at a prestigious Islamic school in Los Angeles.

As they tearfully hug for what will turn out to be the last time, Maliq tries to comfort Omar by telling him that they will always be able to talk to each other by way of a “special phone,” by the “wires” in their heads that connect them.

Fine related a charming anecdote, describing how his young daughter told him one day about the invisible wires people have that silently bind them together so that no one is ever completely alone. The director was so touched by this little story that he built his movie around it. We are all related, he said, whether we are black, white, Christian, Muslim, man or woman.

The other main character in the film is an antisocial flight attendant named Montine (played by Academy Award nominee Melissa Leo). Montine knows all about tragic loss because her beloved husband died in the Oklahoma City bombing that happened on April 19, 1995. That date is stamped upon her mind as much as 9/11 is now embedded in the brains of all Americans, especially New Yorkers. Because of circumstances beyond anyone’s control, Omar has fallen into her care, and she reluctantly—and very unofficially—takes charge of the young boy and eventually drives him back to New York. Omar has told Montine that he talked to his dad on the phone after the attacks. Maliq did not get to work on time that day, and he’s waiting for Omar in their New York apartment. What follows is a “road movie” unlike any other you have encountered.

Travis Fine was a commercial pilot for several years, so he was especially suited for the task of depicting the hectic craziness that took place at airports on 9/11. This pandemonium is very important in the film because it is the catalyst that brings Omar and Montine together. Fine also told the audience that he got the curious name Montine from his grandmother who, like his main character, was known to drink a bit of vodka upon occasion and had a sharp tongue that did not suffer fools.

It was very emotional to see this film in New York, especially at this festival, which was established in 2002 by Robert De Niro to help revitalize the Tribeca neighborhood. Many people were in tears at the end of the screening. When I left the theater, the first thing I did was look up at the clear late-afternoon sky and give silent thanks that the sky was indeed clear and not full of black smoke, as it was on that fateful day almost nine years ago.